STURGEON BAY - The Door County Medical Center president and chief operating officer, Gerald "Jerry" Worrick will retire Jan. 5. The medical center's chief administrative officer, Brian Stephens, will become CEO after Worrick retires, according to a news release.

Worrick used his position to improve a patient’s overall experience and to develop a culture of caring at DCMC that has been nationally recognized many times over, the release said. Worrick was recognized in 2018 as one of the top rural hospital executives in America by Becker’s Healthcare.

Under Worrick's leadership the hospital built the Cancer Center, which affords state-of-the-art cancer treatment without having to leave the peninsula, the release said.

"Jerry spent his career building a culture of trust, respect, community, family and compassion, and there’s no way that we could perform as one of the best rural medical centers in the United States without that,” Stephens said. “I am so grateful for that foundation and it’s certainly marching orders for us to make sure that whatever we do going forward that we protect that.”

Central to the criteria for his replacement was hiring someone familiar with DCMC, Worrick said.

“If you can find someone in your organization to take your job, who knows and practices and believes the culture, then you can preserve the culture,” Worrick said.